Edward Wortley Montagu (diplomat)

Sir Edward Wortley Montagu (8 February 1678  22 January 1761) was British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, husband of the writer Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and father of the writer and traveller Edward Wortley Montagu.

Wortley Hall

Son of Sidney Wortley Montagu and grandson of Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, Wortley Montagu was educated at Westminster School, Trinity College, Cambridge (1693) and trained in the law at the Middle Temple (1693). He was called to the bar in 1699 and entered the Inner Temple in 1706.

He was best known for his correspondence with, seduction of, and elopement with Mary Pierrepont, daughter of Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull. They married in 1712. Edward succeeded his father in 1727, inheriting Wortley Hall, near Barnsley in South Yorkshire.

Edward was a prominent Whig politician, and was MP for Huntingdon before eventually becoming a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from 1714 to 1715.

He made Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and elected the representative of the Levant Company on the nomination of King George I on 10 May 1716. He arrived with his wife at Adrianople (now known as Edirne) on 13 March 1717. As Ambassador, he was charged with pursuing the ongoing negotiations between the Ottomans and the Habsburg Empire. Unsuccessful in his position, he was not made Ambassador to the Ottoman Porte in Constantinople before he was recalled in October 1717. He left Turkey on 15 July 1718 and traveled for some time in the East. Upon his return to England from Constantinople, he fell out with the Whig hierarchy but remained a Member of Parliament for Huntingdon (1722–1734) and Peterborough (1734 until his death in 1761).

From 1757 to 1761, he remodelled Wortley Hall, adding the East Wing. On his death, he left the hall and a large fortune to his daughter Mary, having in 1755 cut off his son Edward with only a small allowance. Mary married the future Prime Minister, John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute.

References

  • The Life of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu – Robert Halsband – Clarendon Press – 1956
  • "MONTAGU, Edward Wortley (1678–1761), of Wortley, Yorks". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
Parliament of England
Preceded by
The Earl of Orrery
Anthony Hammond
Member of Parliament for Huntingdon
1705–1707
With: Sir John Cotton 1705–1706
John Pedley 1706–1707
Succeeded by
Parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Parliament of England
Member of Parliament for Huntingdon
17071713
With: John Pedley 1707–1708
Francis Page 1708–1713
Succeeded by
Viscount Hinchingbrooke
Sidney Wortley Montagu
Preceded by
Thomas Medlycott
Sir Thomas Crosse
Member of Parliament for Westminster
17151722
With: Sir Thomas Crosse
Succeeded by
Archibald Hutcheson
John Cotton
Preceded by
Viscount Hinchingbrooke
Sidney Wortley Montagu
Member of Parliament for Huntingdon
17221734
With: Roger Handasyde
Succeeded by
Roger Handasyde
Edward Montagu
Preceded by
Joseph Banks
Armstead Parker
Member of Parliament for Peterborough
17341761
With: Armstead Parker 1734–1741, 1742–1747
The Earl FitzWilliam 1741–1742
Sir Matthew Lamb 1747–1761
Succeeded by
Sir Matthew Lamb
Armstead Parker
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Sir Robert Sutton
British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
1716–1718
Succeeded by
Abraham Stanyan
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.